Canadian Olympic snowboarding champ Ross Rebagliati says he looks forward to the new Liberal government fulfilling its promise to legalize marijuana in Canada.

Rebagliati stopped by Aluminum Sound in Winnipeg on Friday afternoon to promote the Ross' Gold Glass product line, which includes glass water pipes, bubblers and a portable vaporizer.

He even showed off a 24-karat gold bong worth more than $24,000.

His visit to Winnipeg came as medical marijuana advocates and licensed producers express hope that prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau will fulfil his campaign promise to legalize pot.

WASHINGTON state expects marijuana sales taxes to bring in more than $1 billion over the next four years, according to a budget forecast published by the Office of Financial Management.

In the first year since legalising both medical and recreational cannabis, Washington collected $67.5 million in marijuana-related taxes, directed toward its general fund and health-related services.

This year, the state expects to pull in $154.6 million. As of Sept. 30, three months into the state’s fiscal year, Washington had already collected $37.6 million, said Steve Lerch, executive director and chief economist for the state’s Economic and Revenue Forecast Council.

With weak polling and lackluster fundraising, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is struggling to stay in the 2016 presidential race. So far, some of his strongest financial supporters have come from a new, growing industry: legal marijuana.

As of Sept. 30, Paul’s second-biggest contributor is the National Cannabis Industry Association, a D.C.-based trade group that lobbies Congress on behalf of state-legal marijuana businesses. Since it was founded in the later part of 2010, the association has spent $200,000 on lobbying.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage woman is looking for spice users and asking them to destroy their synthetic drug in exchange for marijuana.

Nicole Crites said she made her first spice-destruction transaction on Friday. Earlier this year, Alaska became the third U.S. state, after Colorado and Washington, to legalize the recreational use of marijuana for adults.

"Just driving down Karluk Street, anytime of day, you'll find people passed out from it," Crites said. "I don't see it addressed by anybody. I don't."

Her husband Michael Crites' Absolutely Chronic Delivery Company is sponsoring the effort.

BEND, Ore. -

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission has released  temporary rules that will regulate the state's recreational marijuana businesses for much of next year.

The new temporary rules will be in effect starting Jan. 1 until June 28 of next year, when permanent rules are expected to be in place.

"I think the rules were a great first step, in issuing a draft to let the community of Oregon know what they are going to expect next year," BloomWell owner Jeremy Kwit said Sunday.

The 78-page guidelines cover all the basics on how recreational marijuana shops must operate.

The rules limit the size of growing operations and won't allow medical and recreational stores under one roof.

A U.S. expert in marijuana policy has some advice for Justin Trudeau as the prime minister-designate prepares to grapple with the thorny issue of legalizing pot: “You’re not going to get everything right the first time.”

Sam Kamin, the Vicente Sederberg Professor of Marijuana Law and Policy at the University of Denver, said that in Colorado — the first North American jurisdiction to allow recreational cannabis sales —ending the prohibition has been a process of trial and error.

“We’ve been willing to revisit and admit it was imperfect to start, and that is really important for the public to see,” Kamin said.

On January 1, 2014, Colorado became one of the first states to allow recreational marijuana sales. But the law contains one little twist.

"People can buy it. They can use it. But in a lot of cases, they don’t have anywhere they can use it legally," says Mason Tvert of the Marijuana Policy Project.

Yes, weed is legal in Colorado. But it’s illegal to consume it in most public locations.

The number of fires caused by the misuse of electrical equipment is at an all time high, figures reveal

Cannabis farms have been blamed for a surge in fires caused by people bypassing electricity meters to power growing equipment for free.

A total of 30 buildings caught fire as a result of the misuse of electrical equipment or leads in 2014/15, figures show.

The figures, released through a Freedom of Information request, are the highest in five years despite the overall number of fires in Merseyside has fallen in the past few years.

It’s almost Halloween, so you know what that means – marijuana prohibitionists and some law enforcement agencies are dusting off the ‘marijuana Halloween candy epidemic’ argument again. Make sure to be on the lookout parents, because at any moment your child could come home with an insane amount of marijuana edibles now that marijuana is legal in four states and Washington D.C.. These scare tactics of course are nothing more than an urban legend, similar to the razor blade in the apple (who gives out apples on Halloween anyways?) story.

Checkmate dug warriors.

For the last few years, we have seen a very significant shift in Americans’ perception of the cannabis plant: they increasingly want it legalized. With a continuously growing number of reports documenting the near-miraculous things that cannabis and cannabis extracts have done for the disabled and the ill, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Currently, 23 states have legalized medicinal marijuana use, while four states – along with the District of Columbia – have legalized recreational use.